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Carrot Sandesh

Gajorer Narom-Pak Sandesh [গাজরের নরম-পাক
সন্দেশ]

By Barnali Dutta

If we draw a food specialty map of the world most
people today would agree that in Indian subcontinent in particular Bengal
region excels in the taste and variety of milk-based sweets based on Chhana(ricotta cheese). Food historian K. T. Achaya discussed about the Aryan
taboo on cutting milk with acid because milk was one of the important part
of the ritual and diet of people of India.

Milk is the purest of edibles nutritive, agreeable, and
conducive to serenity and spirituality. The taboo was a deliberate and
invasive change to the nature of milk because they believe it is the most
important item offered to the god. Milk is an ultimate desire of Indian
vegetarian people who follows rites and rituals for their way of life. It
has a powerful symbolic value of a comfortable life. They were used to make
butter [মাখন], ghee [ঘি], kheer
[ক্ষীর], yogurt [দই], milk rice pudding
[পায়েস] and various other sweetmeats
with milk or condensed milk, but never curdled milk.

Nonetheless, Bengali people first invented a big list of
sweet only with the use of Chaana[ছানা] or
cottage cheese at the time when Portuguese community was established in Bengal,
they ate cottage cheese, which they used to make by breaking
milk with acidic materials and this routine technique may have lifted the
Aryan taboo of Bengali confectioner [moyra ময়রা] on
deliberately curdling the milk, which gave the traditional Bengali sweet
makers a new raw material of making a skilful art of sweet dumplings
soaked in sweet syrup rosogolla [রসগোল্লা] besides Kheer
a item made by solidified milk to store the milk longer or sweets made
during the mutation process milk - Sor[সর].
Many folklores, myths, and fascinating details of admirer of the
Bengali sweets are easily findable in literatures as well as digitally.

[ref courtesy: Milk-- Beyond the Dairy: Proceedings
of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1999 by Harlan
Walker]

Next to rosogolla, sandesh is best known as the
representative sweet from Bengal. The term "Sandesh" also meant news. Bengalis
developed the custom of carrying some sandesh with them whenever they
visited someone and the sweet therefore became the perfect offering for
someone who comes bearing news and it is offered in getting and informing
the good news.

Sweet making is one of the basic instincts in Bengalis
because of their sweet tooth. In every household Bengali elaborate meals
used to end with sweets and that is why every house would find an occasion
easily to make sweets at home. I usually make this Carrot Sandesh for my kids in every winter. The desperate desire of making sweets and feeding others with
minimum sweetener and natural color. I was creative and encouraged by my
fascinating mood.

FreshRicotta cheese250g from 500ml of Amul Taaza double-tonned
milk with the help of 2 small lemon [curdled and drained, but not much pressed]

Grated carrot:
1 cup

Salt:
1 pinch

ghee:
1 teaspoon

Sugar:
1/4 cup

Nutmeg:
1 pinch

Directions:

1. Mix ghee and a pinch of salt with
grated carrotand toss
carefully for a minute or two on a hot pan. It will change the color of
grated carrots slightly.

2. Make a paste
of ricotta cheese
with grated carrot

3. Put the sugar and
nutmeg dust on
a heavy-bottomed pan on a slow-fire and wait until sugar form a thick liquid.

4. Add carrot and ricotta cheese pasteand stir
continuously with a wooden ladle. Slowly the whole thing will be
thickened to a consistency that
coats the ladle and would not drips sweets off.

5. Wait until it cools slightly. Now take a mould, rub some ghee with your
finger, make 8 portion from the sweets, take a portion and make a round ball and press the sweet ball on the mould evenly. Make one by one until done. Serve
your narom-pak sandesh [less cooking soft sweets] with a smile.

Prep time: 00:10
| Cook time:
00:05
|
Total time: 00:15 | Yield: 2 servingsIngredients
Ingredients:
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By Barnali Dutta,
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